[ndahbar]

That is, at least if you're in the New England area (yeah! Go go sports fans! Go go 93 Octane!)

Yes, this has been here but it's nice to hear it directly from the dealers, and I figured I'd try to ease some nervousness for some folks (I know I was, and it was greatly affecting my decision to get a 335).

Today I was at my local bmw dealership, servicing my car. I worked with my usual service manager (veteran over there) and talked to him after I picked up my car about their policy with modded cars and warranties.

In particular I brought up the 335. I asked if they've been getting many modded ones, and he smiled and nodded. I asked whether or not the policy is such that if they discover something like a powertrain mod, would they simply notify the customer and void his powertrain warranty?

He said ABSOLUTELY NOT, that would never happen.

He's like, "we have no problem with that, I mean, sometimes, depending on what we find for a mod, we tell the customer: hey listen, just wanted to make sure you're aware that in the event that you have a fault in your car, and we determine that it was caused by your mod, you're on your own for the cost of the repair or labor to reset the computer, and what have you, but in the mean time, we have no problem at all, go nuts, chip, exhaust, whatever".

He was saying all this with a positive attitude, smiling too. He's like "We know what people want, they should enjoy their cars, absolutely. No problem with the warranty".

So I said, ok, is that the dealership's policy in general? He said yes, mods of any sort will not void any warranty, until something breaks and after working on it, they find out it was caused specifically because of a mod. I said yeah, I know that's the law, but I heard some dealerships automatically void the powertrain warranty, and he immedeately shook his head saying "noooo, that'll never happen here, that's rediculous".

Btw, this is the largest dealer in all of New England (you guys in the area of course know who it is ), and I think in the top 10 dealership list nationwide (in terms of sales/volume). So we're not talking some smallish BMW dealer in the 'burbs who's just trying to attract more business or spread the word about their "mod-friendliness". They easily sell every car they get their hands on.

So that settles it then. Awesome. No need for uninstalling Procedes/JBS/SSTT's for service visits (unless you suspect/know something is wrong).

A bit OT but...also, my newly-gained knowledge that even the bmw extended maintenance won't cover clutch replacements (even in brand new cars unless it's on the flywheel side) is making me seriously reconsider picking up a used E46 M3 and join you lot.

Happy modding.

[samwoo2go]

haha tell it to M3kill3r

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ghlight=voided

[jpsimon]

every dealer is different.. best to just check with whatever dealer you goto

[ndahbar]

Originally Posted by samwoo2go

haha tell it to M3kill3r

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ghlight=voided

Yeah, I know about his misfortune Although I guess it isn't conclusive as to what exactly caused his problem...or even what the root cause is...? Exhaust gasket? Spark issue?

So M3kill3r, your baby's powertrain warranty shows up as "void" in BMWNA dealership computer networks? I find that almost insane to believe. If so...those b*stards !!!

[jerrygarcia]

According to most users, the ecu mods available are easy to uninstall. To me it makes sense to play it on the safe side and uninstall before service no matter what the dealer says. They may say that they are cool with the mods, but is it too hard to spend the 20 minutes or whatever to uninstall it and play it safe?

[dxb335d]

FFS, do you know of anyone whose broken a tranny yet?! well there you go!

[zenmaster]

Common sense says that warranty work would become problematic if and when it becomes widely known, amongst dealers, that mods are causing failures.

If piggyback A never causes a problem, but piggyback B does contribute to some failure, it really wouldn't matter which one you had as far as the dealer is concerned. That's why it'd be in everyone's interest for all "tuners" to provide safe products. In other words, the modder should be concerned about the safe operation of all products, even those that they themselves are not using, if they want less problems with any future warranty work.

[e.n335]

This tells me that you have the possibility to have the same excellent relationship to your dealership as I have. I have no problem to pay for a defect caused by a tune. I would have a problem when my dealership would void the warranty on the HPFP. So select your dealerships carefully, from those who are known to behave very customer-unfriendly, just stop buying there.

- Eugen

[turbotko]

That seems extremely reasonable, and I honestly don't even see BMWNA having a problem with that. I've always told my customers I would be fair when it came to mods.

If the radio stops working, I could care less about the piggyback that's on the car. Now, if you come in with a blown headgasket, 3 broken pistons, and a broken input shaft in the trans with a piggyback on the car........all bets are off.